With the increase in the number of migrants, mainly from Mexico, crossing into the U.S. via Canada, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sent 25 extra agents to a busy section of the northern border as of Monday (6), according to a CBP spokesperson, as exclusive report by NBC News. NBC News previously reported the increase in Mexicans entering the United States from Canada after legally arriving in Canada by air.

While the Mexican border remains a much busier sector for crossing undocumented migrants, the recent increase in the Canadian border is attracting more attention within the agency and requiring additional resources, the source said.

A CBP spokesperson said the agency began temporarily deploying Border Patrol agents from sectors “not experiencing an influx” to the Swanton Sector of the U.S.-Canadian border on Monday “due to migration fluctuations along the Northern Border”.

“While the apprehension numbers are small compared to other areas with irregular migration flows, Swanton Sector apprehensions constitute a large change in this area,” a CBP spokesperson said. “The deployed team will serve as a force multiplier in the region and assist to deter and disrupt human smuggling activities being conducted in the Swanton Sector area of responsibility”, according to the same report.

According to NBC News, “The Swanton Sector, which includes sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, experienced an 846 percent increase in apprehensions from October 2022 through this January, compared with the same period a year prior. In January, the latest month for which data is available, 367 migrants were stopped in the sector, compared to just 24 in January 2022”.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said he is concerned about the welfare of migrants trying to cross the frigid terrain.

“Not only is it unlawful to circumvent legal means of entry into the United States, but it is extremely dangerous, particularly in adverse weather conditions, which our Swanton Sector has in abundance”, Garcia said in a statement last month.

Hypothermia and freezing to death are risks, especially at this time of year. On February 3, temperatures dipped to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Those migrants who can afford the $350 one-way plane ticket from Mexico City or Cancun to Montreal or Toronto and then cross the northern U.S. border are less likely to be turned back because of Title 42 than migrants at the southern border. On a per capita basis, the Border Patrol invokes Title 42 to block migrants from claiming asylum less frequently at the northern border than at the southern border”.

On Feb. 24, Garcia met with Mexican government officials to address the dangers of Mexicans crossing into the U.S. from Canada. One official said CBP was “trying to get the message to people who are contemplating the trip to think twice and not risk it due to the hostile environment along the northern border in winter months”.